"Whoa-," Josh's feet moved away from Mason's view as he stepped back, from what Mason could only assume was shock. "Are you crying?"

Mason snorted humorlessly, "Sure fucking seems like I am huh?"

"Shit man," his roommate sighed, "I just don't think I've ever seen you cry." He definitely hadn't; Mason couldn't even remember the last time he had shed any sort of tear. And he wasn't normally the type to break down in a random ass hallway.

There was a long silence before Josh hesitantly said, "Did you guys," another short pause, "Break up?"

Mason finally looked up at his best friend with an expressionless face. "We didn't break up," he ran his fingers through his hair tiredly. "God, I fucking wish we did." He immediately shook his head. "No I can't even pretend to mean that."

There were a lot things he was wishing for in that moment, but being Ana's ex-boyfriend wasn't one of them.

"Yeah, I didn't think so. You guys seem to like each other a lot," his smile was small.

"I don't just like her, Josh," Mason's voice broke and he cleared his throat as he turned back towards the dorm's door. "She's the only person I've ever fallen in love with."

"Wow."

He glanced back at Josh when he didn't say any more, only to see him looking absolutely dumfounded. "Don't act so surprised, you dickhead," he rolled his eyes. "I literally told you about it."

"Well yeah," he agreed as Mason opened the door. "But I didn't think you were serious!"

Mason walked into the loving room and slumped onto the couch, using the sleeve of his sweatshirt to wipe off his face. "That's your defense? That you thought I wasn't being genuine to Ana about my feelings?"

He only noticed the slip when Josh's eyebrows furrowed, and Mason mentally groaned when he froze just beside the couch.

"Ana? You mean like Anastasia? Like Princess Anastasia?" He sat next to Mason with a dubious look on his face, "You mean all that bullshit those guys were saying wasn't actually bullshit?"

No time like the present, Mason thought silently.

"If by bullshit you mean the complete truth then yes, it was total bullshit."

Josh abruptly jumped up from his spot, "No fucking way!" Mason watched with wide eyes as he circled around the piece of furniture he was currently sitting on. "You're totally pulling my dick."

Mason's lips curled, nose scrunching as he replied, "Thankfully, I'm not." His roommate shot him a look, which broke the weird atmosphere and made both of them laugh.

"Wait wait wait-," Josh waved his arms wildly, shaking his head as he stared intently at the ground. "You're telling me that Paris - sweet little Paris that started a prank war with her roommate and then started dating said roommate - is actually Princess Anastasia?"

Mason nodded with slightly amusement, "The one and only."

He briefly wondered if this was how he had acted when he first found out, before remembering that he had just acted like a complete dick instead.

"This is so fucking crazy," he muttered just as the door opened and Carly walked in.

"What's crazy?" She set her bag down on the couch as she took the seat on the other side of Mason. "Wait a second-," she trailed off as her eyes flickered between the two. "First of all, why are you here right now? She gestured to Mason before holding up two fingers, "Second of all, where is Paris?"

Mason waited half a beat to see if she was going to ask anything else, eyebrows furrowing when she just stared with an inquiring expression. "Is that it?"

"What do you mean is that it?" She mimicked Mason's voice, causing the two men to chuckle.

"It just sounded like you were going to list off like six different things but then you only mentioned two," Josh shook his head softly. "I don't know; shit was weird."

"Whatever," she waved her hand dismissively. "You're here because-?"

Mason sighed heavily, "It's a long story."

"Right okay. And where might your girlfriend be?"

Fuck if he knew; somewhere between the dorm and Mysteria if he had to guess.

"That's a part of that long story," Josh answered for him. "Basically, Mason's girlfriend is actually a princess in disguise, whom of which has- wait did you know who she was before or after you started dating?" He directed the question towards Mason.

"After," which still really fucking sucked to think about.

"Whom of which has been keeping her identity a secret ever since she arrived. Until Mason found out in some mysterious way and now she was just taken by these giant men but I'm not really sure why. That part hasn't been explained yet."

Carly's mouth was agape, eyes wide as she stared at Josh. "I'm sorry- what?!"

"Like I said," Mason shrugged, "Long story."

~~~

Over two weeks had passed before Mason had heard or seen anything about Ana.

It had a been a long two weeks, and it felt like he was losing a piece of himself everyday.

He tried to ignore it the best he could so he would be able to actually focus on coming up with a way to see her, but he could still fucking smell her on his sheets. And it was slowly driving him insane.

Josh had walked into his room and Mason had just opened his mouth in order to yell at him for not knocking when he noticed the look on his face.

He looked so devastated.

"You might want to see this," he held out his laptop that Mason only then realized he was carrying.

Mason sighed with annoyance; he was busy studying (or was supposed to be if he hadn't been spending all of his time scrolling through all of the photos he had of Ana).

Any classes he failed were totally going to be on her.

He had also tried calling her at least once a day, but after what was the most likely fiftieth time he came to the conclusion that it was probably pointless. For all he knew, her parents had taken her phone.

"What is it?" Mason pushed aside his own laptop so Josh could set his down on the desk.

"So I got a little curious, and I looked up Ana's family and-," he gestured at the screen that was now at Mason's eye level.

Mason had told both Carly and Josh everything they might need to know about Ana's real identity, from the moment he found out to the moment that she was taken. It was safe to say that they were almost as upset as Mason when he explained why she was gone.

He turned his head to look at whatever he was trying to show him, sucking in a sharp breath as his eyes skimmed over the news headline in front of him.

Golden Princess Found Crying by Multiple Castle Attendants

There were multiple photos accompanying the title, and each one made Mason's heart drop.

His girlfriend - the most caring, genuine, loving person Mason had ever had the pleasure of meeting - looked completely crushed.

He had avoided looking at any news articles about Ana for the past seventeen days, and it had been specifically for this reason. He couldn't handle it; knowing that she was upset - and that he couldn't do anything about it - was fucking torture.

But this meant that she was back at the castle, so at least he knew she was safe. And she looked healthy otherwise, she even looked as though she had gained a bit of weight (something that always reassured Mason because it meant that she was eating and she was eating well).

He had always secretly worried that being royalty meant that she would have a strict diet, and he wanted to make sure that she was getting the nutrients her body needed.

It was relieving to know that his concerns were mostly unwarranted.

He was slightly curious to know what Ana would feel like against him now that she had filled out a bit more, how her curves would mold into his form.

Fuck.

He wanted to hold her so badly; he wanted to pull her against him and nuzzle her hair and make her giggle.

God, she deserved to laugh; and she certainly didn't deserve this.

Mason wasn't sure if it was his reaction to seeing Ana so clearly unhappy, or his desire to just be with her again, but he suddenly had an appetite for revenge.

He didn't consider himself a vengeful person, the only time he had ever gotten back at someone was for pranks (obviously). But if anyone deserved karma, it was definitely the person who decided that threating and locking his girlfriend in a closet would put them on his good side.

It would take a while - and the police would need to be involved for anything to actually happen - but if it meant that Mason could reunite with Ana, then he was willing to sacrifice the world.

"I have something else to tell you." But if he wanted to do this correctly, he would need help. "It's about Charleigh."

Even if it meant telling his best friend something he thought he would never be able to.

~~~